I went to work this morning for a few hours since we weren't going to leave for New Mexico until the early afternoon.  That's right: it's time for the annual family vacation. :)  I work at an inner city ministry called City Church.  It was fun like always, although a little sad since everyone knew that this was the last day of VBS for the summer.

The biggest incident of the day was when a little girl climbed halfway up the wall, realized that she was afraid of heights, and got stuck.  This is not too unusual; occasionally, a child will refuse to come down the wall and we will have to send someone up after them.  This little girl was an extreme case.  She began to wail and cry, and if that wasn't bad enough, she actually worked herself up so much that she vomited while hanging onto the wall.  Another little girl that was climbing on the other side of the wall wouldn't come down for a good five minutes either, so we couldn't send anyone up after them.  We were all relieved when we got both girls down to safety.

I led worship like I have been doing all week, but the stereo system wasn't set up today, so I had to think up some good acappella songs to which I knew the hand motions.  I attempted to lead Big House, Lord's Army, and Father Abraham.  The kids actually seemed to have a better time laughing at me trying to sing loud enough for all 150 of them to hear me than they did doing actual worship earlier this week.

After City Church, I went home.  My family piled into our mini-van and began the four and a half hour drive to New Mexico.  My brother, Luke, had to pee every hour, so we made a lot of stops, but we eventually arrived at our destination. 

Our resort is called Tamaya, pronounced Tah-meh-YAH.  It's located in a beautiful setting, amongst desert and red rock.  It's positioned right beside a tall, blue mountain.  The skies around us are filled with clouds, so it isn't too hot.  The temperature is perfect.

On the way down from our hotel room to dinner, we stopped at the spa so Mom could make some appointments for her and Amy and me.  I've never been to anything like a spa before, so I was a little excited.  We were going to spend all of tomorrow morning relaxing and having treatments.  We were trying to figure out which treatments we all wanted, but when I saw the prices for each activity, I couldn't help it.  My mind flashed to images of kids in Africa dressed in rags, wondering when they would get their next meal.  And here I was, ready to spend a couple hundred dollars on a massage.  I started to cry a little.  I was ashamed of my uncommon display of tears, but I was even more ashamed of what I was about to do.

I felt sweet Luke's hand creep around my shoulder, rubbing my back in a comforting way.  He eventually wrapped his arms around me in an embrace.  "It'll be okay, Emily," he whispered.  He is so sweet.  Whose nearly eleven-year-old brother will give them a big hug in public?

During dinner, I talked to my parents some more about the guilt that I felt, and they explained that even though we would be relaxing and having a good time, we were still helping to pay someone's salary during a difficult recession.  I thought about that for a while.  I think I'll probably go to the spa for a little while tomorrow.

The beds here are tiny.  I have to share one with Amy, my sister, and she kicks!  I'm kind of dreading going to sleep, but I've had a long day.  I'll write more tomorrow.

So yesterday, if you read my last post, you found out that I am a terrible miniature golf player.  Today, I discovered a new hidden talent of mine.  I bet you'll never guess it.  Can you guess what it is?

Laser tag. 

That's right, laser tag.  I got second place out of everybody in my family.  I'm very proud. 

Actually, I'm shocked.  I think it was my code name that helped me score the way I did.  You see, we did not get to pick our code names.  They came with the gun that we were given.  While everyone else in my family got names like "Falcon" and "Venom" and "Viper", my alias was "Barney."  I still have no clue why any of the staff members would pick a name like that, but I suppose that it didn't hinder me all that much.

Later in the afternoon, the family and I went to see Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.  In case you haven't heard of that show, it is located in a coliseum of sorts where you sit down and watch a live show with horses and cowboys and singers while you enjoy a four course meal.

I have nothing but good things to say about the show, which at one point featured a lifelike nativity scene scene with real camels and sheep and basically shared the gospel with the audience.  The only real complaint I have of this Dixie Stampede is the way you're supposed to eat your food.

Here is a list of what I was given during the show: a biscuit, cream of vegetable soup, an entire chicken, half a potato, a slab of ham, corn on the cob, and an apple turnover.   

I have no complaints about the quality of the food.  It was all very good.  My only complaint is that we were given no silverware!  I think it was supposed to be a joke... because it was very difficult and messy to pull apart a greasy chicken with my bare hands and slurp up the cream of vegetable soup without a spoon... but I sure would have preferred it if thirty seconds into the prank, someone would have jumped out with a tray of silverware, saying, "Just kidding.  You don't have to make a mess, Emily!  I know you prefer to be neat and tidy!  Here's a fork!"  But that didn't happen, so I ate the food messily.

A huge wonder of the night was the chickens.  Every single person that came to see the Dixie Stampede got a full chicken.  They were small.  They were good.  While we looked around with amazement at the hundreds of poultry being passed around the room, my dad leaned in to whisper to me, "That's a lot of dead chickens."  I agree.    

Today was a good day, but I am ready to return home tomorrow.  We will be leaving bright and early in the morning, but that means that we'll arrive back in Texas earlier too, so I guess I'm okay with that.